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Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) strives to provide the best service to our communities. However, there may be times where we do not meet expectations. Complaints are very important to us because they help us to review what we do and make improvements to our services, policies and procedures if necessary.

Definition Of Complaint

A complaint is an expression of discontent or concern by a member of the public made about the standard of service, conduct, or actions or inaction of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service

How To Complain

The Service may receive complaints in writing or verbally (over the telephone or in person), at anyone of the fire stations or anywhere where employees are working and available to the public.

What Happens Once We Receive A Complaint

When a person makes a complaint the first approach to resolving a complaint will be to deal with it informally and where possible, directly with the person. Where the complaint is made by e-mail the first stage will be to contact the complainant to establish contact details to enable the initial verbal discussion to take place. The most appropriate manager on duty at the time the complaint is received will seek to resolve the complaint at this stage. Where this is achieved, no further action is required and the complaint will not be recorded as a formal complaint but will be logged.

Formal complaints are forwarded to a Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service senior manager, they will send a written acknowledgement to inform the complainant that the matter will be investigated and to expect written details of the outcome.

The senior manager will refer complaints for investigation by LFRS to an Investigating Manager who will contact the complainant within ten working days, giving their name and contact number. The points made by the complainant will be looked into as a matter of urgency and that a full response will be given within 30 working days, where practicable, from the initiation of the investigation by the Head of Service Development Department.

Appeals Mechanism

If the complainant is not satisfied with the outcome of the complaint as advised, an appeal mechanism is provided via the Deputy Chief Fire Officer (DCFO). In the event of an appeal, the complainant will be given a written decision of the appeal outcome and related explanation for the decision. This will be provided as soon as reasonably practicable and the DCFO will advise of the likely time for consideration based on the

issue/s in question. The anticipated timescale for a response will be communicated to the complainant. Should a complainant so wish, they may direct their appeal to the Local Government Ombudsman in the first instance as an alternative to the above mechanism:

Local Government Ombudsman
P O Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 0EH

Advice Line: 0300 061 0614 www.lgo.org.uk

Email: enquiries@lgo.org.uk

Making A Complaint About A Combined Fire Authority Member

Under section 27(2) of the Localism Act 2011 the Authority must adopt a code of conduct that governs the conduct of members and co-opted members. Therefore, at the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority meeting held 18 June 2012, a new Member Code of Conduct was approved; which took effect from 1 July 2012.

The procedure for dealing with any complaints against members of the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority who may have breached the provisions of the Code is a separate procedure to complaints against members of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service.

If you want to complain about the conduct of a member or members of the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority you must submit your complaint in writing to:

The Monitoring Officer
Lancashire Combined Fire Authority
C/o Lancashire Fire & Rescue Headquarters
Garstang Road
Fulwood
Preston
PR2 3LH

The Monitoring Officer can only deal with complaints about the behaviour of a member and will not deal with matters that are not covered by the Code of Conduct.

The Code of Conduct can be accessed here.